Thoughts of the Human Computer
by mystmoon92
Summary: She isn't sure what she is anymore, but somehow, she doesn't think she can ever go back. Star Wars AU. Drabble fluff one-shot. Mention of UkrainexCanada


**I thought I'd post one last thing before I leave this account. This is something I wrote on tumblr last year for a Star Wars/Hetalia crossover I was doing with vinnie2757. Most of the work we did on it can be found here ( vinnie2757. tumblr tagged / startalia) but I think this story stands on it's own.**

**Note: Ekaterina = Ukraine, Matvey = Canada**

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It's not so bad, she reflects, floating through the sea of data that makes up the Imperial Network. It could be a lot worse. At least she had a job and she knew her family were safe. Subconsciously, she barely has to think about it anymore, her cybernetically enhanced brain keeps automatic systems ticking over, ensuring the continued functionality of her charges.

_Accessing online database; Entry: дочери Human AI system_

The main problem designers had hit when trying to create a learning, self-aware AI, was that, eventually, the AI would either decide that humans were no longer capable of looking after themselves, or feel humans were no longer worthy of their attention or in some cases, would simply become curious as to what humans could endure without going insane. Various attempts at morality protocols had been attempted and whilst they worked for simple droid AIs, for one complex enough to run the Empire's many interests, creating something that wouldn't short circuit within 5 minutes of being turned on seemed impossible.

The scientist who first suggested using a human brain as a morality compass went down in history unnamed, but the idea lingered. Through these troubles one of the scientists lost her wife due to a malfunctioning AI and he became absorbed in making the morality protocols work, leaving his eldest daughter Ekaterina to raise her two siblings Natalia and Ivan by herself.

It is unknown when he decided to use his own daughter as the subject for the first human trial of this AI program, but when she had fully grown; the girl was summoned to the Imperial Scientific Council and offered the chance to serve the Empire in this way. In her own words "I was nervous about doing this as it has never been done before, but I trusted my father and I trusted my brother to care for my sister in my absence. I am proud to be the first to undertake the дочери procedure"

Ekaterina sighs as she sees this float past, some engineering students learning it no doubt. How long has it been, she wonders, floating through the network. She feels nostalgic, reforging the connection to her physical body for the first time in she's not sure how long, feeling strangely heavy as she sees herself floating in the bacta tank, cables running from her neck and spine into the large hard drives behind. She feels oddly unattached to that flesh now. The real her is housed in the computers around her, the floating girl nothing more than a pretty bauble to impress visitors with. She wonders, if someone harms that body, would she still feel it? Could she survive in the network without it?

Thinking on this, she notes the security guard nearest the tank with fondness. Ivan still cared for her. She'd been so proud when he'd shown force abilities and the fact that he defied the Emperor's wishes to watch over her warmed her. She let a bug go through the dispenser near him, a soup portion landing next to him. He looked thin and family was important after all.

She floated through the system barely having to put effort into fixing anything, watching her human charges live. It was them she cared for she supposed and the more she found out about the Empire and how her charges were to be treated, the more she began letting small things slip in an effort to help. One of those small things however had been Matvey, though she hadn't realised it at the time, and she simultaneously regretted and was happy that she'd never reported him.

After their first conversation, she'd researched him using the old Jedi databases that survived and had immediately felt for him. Close to the collapse of the temple, having sustained injury during it and last heard from had liberated a fighter and left with his Jedi brother. From what she could tell he seemed to have joined the Rebels, and that in itself wasn't as shocking to her as it once was. She had access to the lives of nearly everyone in the Empire now and knew all too well what reasons there were for leaving. It was all too easy to hide this shift in herself. No-one was really interesting in her thoughts anymore. If she was quizzed though, she could say with certainty that Matvey didn't seem interested in using her to gain information for the rebels. Even if that had been his reason for meeting her, he seemed happy enough to be with her without politics between them. She smiled as she felt him access her network, waiting for her to show him the way. She drifted down to the safe pocket of code to meet him. The Empire would survive without her until he left.

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**Hope you enjoyed! This was actually a prequel of sorts to this ( vinnie2757. tumblr post / 35156145315/ so-i-wrote-a-thing-matthew-whistled-a-sharp-note) written by vinnie if you want more.**


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